"A. E. Van Vogt - The Rat & the Snake & Other Stories" - читать интересную книгу автора (Van Vogt A E)

on the nucleome level."
"By ancient Ganae!" Shun whispered. "We've run into
what we've always feared."
Gorsid was shouting into the communicator. "Destroy all the
locators on the ship. Destroy them, do you hear!"
He turned with glaring eyes. "Shuri," he bellowed. "They
don't seem to understand. Tell those subordinates of your to
act. All locators and reconstructors must be destroyed."
"Hurry, hurry!" said Shuri weakly.
When that was done they breathed more easily. There were
grim smiles and a tensed satisfaction. "At least," said Vice-
captain Mayad. "he cannot now ever discover Gana. Our great
system of locating suns with planets remains our secret. There
can be no retaliation for" He stopped, said slowly,
"What am I talking about? We haven't done anything. We've
not responsible for the disaster that has befallen the inhabi-
tants of this planet."
But Enash knew what he had meant. The guilt feelings
came to the surface at such moments as thisthe ghosts of
all the races destroyed by the Ganae, the remorseless will
that had been in them, when they first landed, to annihilate
whatever was here. The dark abyss of voiceless hate and ter-
ror that lay behind them; the days on end when they had
mercilessly poured poisonous radiation down upon the unsus-
pecting inhabitants of peaceful planetsall that had been in
Mayad's words.
"I still refuse to believe be has escaped." That was Captain
Gorsid. "He's in there. He's waiting for us to take down our
screens, so he can escape. Well, we won't do it."
There was silence again as they stared expectantly into the
emptiness of the energy shell. The reconstructor rested on
metal supports, a glittering affair. But there 'was nothing else.
Not a flicker of unnatural light or shade. The yellow rays of
the sun bathed the open spaces with a brilliance that left no
room for concealment.
"Guards," said Gorsid, "destroy the reconstructor. I thought
he might come back to examine it, but we can't take a chance
on that."
It burned with a white fury. And Enash, who had hoped
somehow that the deadly energy would force the two-legged
thing into the open, felt his hopes sag within him.
"But where can he have gone?" Yoal whispered.
Enash turned to discuss the matter. In the act of swinging
around, he saw that the monster was standing under a tree a
score of feet to one side, watching them. He must have ar-
rived at that moment, for there was a collective gasp from the
councillors. Everybody drew back. One of the screen techni-
cians, using great presence of mind, jerked up an energy
-screen between the Ganae and the monster. The creature
came forward slowly. He was slim of build, he held his head